RepliKate, chapter Two

When Marshall arrived at the dock, Mike was waiting for him.

"This better be important," Marshall grumbled. "The Kingston are close to capturing an iceboat, and I've got –"

"Wait until you see what we've got," Mike muttered, adding, "Sir," as an afterthought.

The two of them stepped onto the Hammersley's gangplank, and saluted. Waiting at the other end were the two Kates, and both straightened slightly and saluted Marshall as he came aboard.

He stared at them for a moment, before his eyes narrowed. "Is this a joke?" he growled.

"I hope so," Mike replied, sighing. "But so far, it appears not."

"You have two XOs."

"Yes, sir."

"You have... two Kate McGregors?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir!" the two Kates said together, sarcasm evident. They then snorted at the unplanned chorus.

Marshall sighed. "I'm guessing you checked that one of them isn't an imposter?"

"We tried," Mike agreed. "They know everything about themselves. They really do seem to be the same person. Twice."

"Except her hair is too long," one Kate said, nodding towards the other's plait.

Marshall seemed lost for words. No-one said anything, as they could see he was thinking hard about the situation.

"What exactly did you ask them?" he eventually questioned.

"Name, address, date of birth, rank..."

"Did anyone consider cloning?" one Kate interrupted.

The other rolled her eyes. "And that would really explain everything."

"It might. The clone wouldn't have a belly button, so it's easy to prove."

"No belly button?" Kate paused, then glanced around. "She even likes the Simpsons. That's scary."

"Can we get on track?" Mike asked. Seeing the strain the situation was having on him, the two Kates stopped talking. They were finding, oddly enough, that their opposite was very good conversation.

Marshall turned to the pair. "What date is it?"

"September twenty-second," they replied.

Marshall paused before asking, "Year?"

One Kate snorted, and didn't answer. The other rolled her eyes.

"Twenty-oh-nine."

There was silence, as everyone stared at her. She fidgeted slightly. "What?"

"Explains why her hair is longer," the other Kate said, a distinct look of unease on her face.

"It's two thousand and eight," Mike said. The second Kate frowned.

"No... it's not... hang on." She looked around, as if waiting for someone to call, 'Psyche!'. No-one did. She swallowed. "It's... that's not right."

"That's not good."

"Kate, calm down," Mike said, and both women looked up, then at each other.

"Who's he talking to?" one asked, and the other shrugged. Mike sighed.

"Right, first I think we should rename one of you." He pointed at the Kate with shorter hair. "You stay as Kate." He then pointed at the other Kate. "You're Kaitlin."

She frowned. "I hate that name," she muttered.

"How about she's Kate, and I'm X?" the other Kate suggested.

Marshall nodded. "Alright. Now, the question remains – what is going on?"

Kate shrugged. "I got up this morning and came here. Last night was definitely 2009. And you're saying today is..."

"The same day, one year earlier."

"So... it's not Tuesday?" Kate checked.

X shook her head. "Nope, Monday."

"Dear Lord... what did I do?"

"New twist on the saying, waking up on the wrong side of bed," Marshall muttered to Mike. His gaze returned to Kate, and he continued trying to evaluate her.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to a scar on her right arm – a scar that X didn't have. Kate frowned, obviously slightly put out that no-one remembered what had happened.

"It was a boarding, got nicked by a machete. About eight months back." She considered. "That would be four months from now."

X swallowed. "Note to self..." she murmured. Kate suddenly looked shocked.

"I probably shouldn't have told you that..." she muttered. "In fact, I'm going to stop talking, now, before I destroy the space time continuum."

Marshall's phone suddenly rang, and he backed away, answering it. X and Kate exchanged glances.

"Are you sure this is '08?" Kate asked. "How do you know it's not you guys who magically appeared in my time zone?"

"I think this goes way beyond time zones," Mike muttered.

"There's several dozen of us," X replied, gesturing at the boat and nearby street, "and one of you."

"No, there's two of me," Kate replied.

"You shouldn't be here at all!" X growled.

"You know, I didn't ask to come here," Kate snapped. "The universe is doing something crazy, and I don't like it much more than any of you."

Nearby, Marshall lowered his phone, and rubbed at his forehead. The trio on deck looked over at him.

"Mike, we've got a pair of suspected FFVs halfway between here and the border. Coastwatch spotted them. They obviously came much further than they intended, and are now making for the border."

Pained, his glance passed over the two Kates before continuing. "If you leave now, you can probably catch them."

"Uh, s-sir?" Mike stuttered. "I think this is a bigger problem..."

Marshall shrugged absently. "It can wait. As far as I can tell, she's not going anywhere. You've got an extra crewmember. Now, I've got another problem back at Navcom, I'll talk to you later."

Looking as though he would collapse from the strain his mind was being placed under, Marshall wandered up the gangplank and back towards his car. Grimacing, Mike turned back to the two women.

"So, uh... how do we tell the crew?" he asked. So far, only Buffer, Swain and Charge knew, as they'd been the only ones in the bridge when two Kates had turned up. Now, the pair looked at each other.

"We'll leave you to explain that," X said, smiling sweetly, and with a sigh, Mike led the way to the bridge.